use DBI; $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:CSV:f_dir=./"); $query = "select id, fname, lname"; $sth->prepare($query); $sth->execute(); while ($rowdata = $sth->fetchrow_hashref) { $hash{$rowdata->{'id'}} = $rowdata{'id'}; if ($rowdata->{'fname'}) { $hash{$rowdata->{'id'}}{'fname'} = 1; } if ($rowdata->{'lname'}) { $hash{$rowdata->{'id'}}{'lname'} = 1; } } print Dumper(\%hash);